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Opinions on expanding AppleVis to include Mac apps

Submitted by AppleVis on 5 December, 2011

Hi all,

There's been some discussion on Twitter recently about creating a website similar to AppleVis, but for Mac apps. Some have suggested that a simpler solution would be to expand AppleVis to include Mac apps.

I'm certainly open to this idea, but there are a couple of issues. Firstly, I've heard a few people say over the past year that they were thinking about creating such a site. So, does anybody know if a site already exists? I certainly wouldn't want to tread on anybody else's toes or duplicate time, effort and resources.

The second issue is that I am not a Mac user, so have no knowledge or experience of using apps on the Mac. Are the types of accessibility problems the same as those on iDevices? Are there workarounds available on the Mac? Basically, can somebody give me a primer on what I need to know <smile>

If you would like to see Mac apps added to AppleVis, please let us know. Assuming that nobody else is already doing it, I think it's something that we can seriously consider.

David

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I like the idea, and the domain name, applevis, is already set up for it since it includes all Apple products. VO works similarly, and has similar problems, on the mac - unlabeled controls, things it won't read, and so on. The main difference is that Macs have the idea of "interacting" with items, so interacting with a dialog gives you its controls, interacting with a control gives you its text... It is hard to explain, but many tutorials and websites explain it well.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'd rather see things kept separate. Not everyone who has an iDevice has a Mac, and not everyone who has a mac has an iDevice. It's my opinion that having everything lumped into one huge site could make it more confusing and take away from the service that already exists here.

It's worth saying that windows does, in fact, already have something like this, the accesswatch site,a s wella s the klango accessible software database. Having something like this for the mac would certainly be useful, and would probably help new or switching users in finding alternatives to software they used to depend on in Windows.

If you do include Mac apps and the like, I'd like to see the two categories separate from each other. I do not have a mac, therefore I don't feel the need to look through a bunch of Mac-related apps and replies just to see the iPhone ones.

One way to solve this would be for each account to have a setting describing if the person owns a mac, an iOS device, or both. Depending on that, it'd show or hide the information that's rellevant to that person. THis would obviously not work for guests, but it could be one way to deal with it. Then also make another twitter account, like AppleVisMac, that'd tweet all the information we're seeing now, but related to mac related entries.

The devices that the app was tested on should probably be replaced with mac versions the app was tested on, since some people are actually still using snow leapord for 1 reason or another, and the model of mac one is using doesn't really matter as much.

I'd rather not combine Mac and iOS stuff here just because both are made by Apple. I look to this site as the best resource for information about iOS software. I'd rather not have to wade through Mac stuff to find it.

I think it would be great to have a section for Mac software on this site. From the searching I've done, it would be quite a bit smaller as there seems far fewer accessible Mac apps than IOS apps.
Also, it seems that a Mac app either works or does not work, there are no work arounds like there are for other screen readers and other operating systems.
Finally, a lot of Mac VO users will say an app is accessible, leaving out the fact that it needs to be customised in quite a sophisticated way to make it anything like the user experience one would expect from using other access software.
Just my two penneths worth.

Some Mac friends and I have wanted Applevis to do this for a while. You've already got the structure in place, why reinvent the wheel? You can have separate categories, that shouldn't pose a problem, much like how it doesn't pose a problem that you discuss jailbroken apps.

I think it would be great to have Mac Apps. I would replace button labelling with something like access to controls, which might actually be appropriate for IOS as well since other things than buttons need accessing and labelling, and I would include a note on which OS version the app was tested. The IOS app directory is so helpful I'd really use a Mac one too.

I think this is a Good idea, but I'd like to have a setting or something where you can choose if you have a mac or not. I don't own a mac my self, but I'm interested in hearing about iOS apps as well as Mac apps. and if I choose that I have a mac in my account settings, it would be nice to have the same settings as we have for apps for iOS.
example: I can choose if I only want to get mail about new forum content or new app submissions.

The previous reply made me think that, if you do this (and I think you should), you will probably want to separate the twitter feeds. There should be one for iOS apps and one for Mac apps, so people don't get tweets about a platform they don't own.

Hi all,There appears to be a good level of support for adding Mac apps to AppleVis, and it does seem like a logical progression for the site.I still have some concerns. The main one being the potential duplication of resources with the sites that already provide information for blind Mac users. I've actually contacted a couple of these sites to make sure that they aren't already working on something similar.If we do open up AppleVis to Mac apps, we'll certainly take note of the suggestions and concerns raised in this discussion.We'll also be asking for suggestions on what specific information should be included in a directory for Mac apps. Our existing App Directory has changed a few times since it was launched, so it would be nice to get it right first time with any new directory <smile>David